'Toontime: Blowback

credit: Bish

Latest: A three judge panel of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit handed a victory to the regime stonewalling Congressional subpoenas.  In the McGhan case, the panel ruled 2-1 that federal courts cannot interfere in "political disputes" between the Executive and Legislative branches by judicial enforcement of congressional subpoenas.  The ruling is a severe blow to congressional oversight authority, and of dubious validity according to many constitutional scholars.  Paradoxically the Repugnants in the Senate trial were arguing that the House investigators should have tried to enforce their subpoenas  in court before charging King Orange with obstruction,.  The two judges who ruled in favor of the regime are Repugnant appointees.  The decision is likely to be appealed to the full Court of Appeals by the House, and then to the Supreme Court.  This ruling highlights the corruption at the heart of the GOP.

The House Judiciary Committee requested interviews of the four career prosecutors who quit the Roger Stone case after the demented Douche directly involved himself in the sentencing process.  Stone was convicted on seven felony counts including lying to Congress; his prosecutors recommended to the presiding judge that he serve nine years incarceration. Judge Amy Jackson sentenced Stone to forty months, saying "the truth still matters".  Speculation is rampant in the Swamp that Trumpilini will pardon his favorite political operative, as he seeks to undo the consequences of the Mueller investigation.

Chairman Nadler not only wants to talk to the Stone prosecutors, but also a long list of Justice Department officials who oversaw cases dealing with associates of 'King Orange, the Antichrist', such as Jeff Jensen, selected by AG Barr to review the conviction of former national security advisor Michael Flynn. He also wants to talk to Justice attorney Jessie Liu who oversaw the Stone prosecution. Chairman Nadler set a deadline for response of March 13th.  Barr himself is supposed to appear before the Committee on March 31st.  He is unlikely to comply with the Committee's requests, nor are any earthshaking developments expected to come from the continuing inter-branch standoff.

First Balllot Bernie

Now that Bernard has won three primaries, it is time for progressives to unite behind one standard to give him the Democratic nomination on the convention's first ballot.  The plutocracy has one effective weapon remaining to deny the people's choice the Democratic Party's nomination: 700 odd "superdelegate" votes.  These party office holders and insiders can only vote on the second and subsequent ballots at the convention in Milwaukee.  Sanders has proven his electricity by energizing a new generation of voters.  He has defeated the candidates of the Democratic establishment, and opportunistic plutocrats in plebeian clothing attempting to buy the nomination with their personal wealth in head-to-head primary contests. He is likely to strengthen his lead after Super Tuesday.  Sanders will go into the convention with the most pledged delegates from a crowded field. All progressive resources must now be concentrated on defeating the anti-Christ in office by giving Bernie a first round knockout. Feel the Burn!

'Toontime: Prezident fer Sale!

credit: Joe Heller

US Person cannot decide which is more disturbing:  Bloomberg's miserable performance in the last Democratic debate, or the mass hysteria on display at a Trumpist rally in the evangelical stronghold of Colorado Springs.  Pick your poison; either one is bad news for 'Merica.

credit: Milt Prigee 
Wackydoodle sez: Hey Mirror--who all's the best mob lawyer of all?

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COTW: Tiger Comeback in India

India's Prime Minister made an announcement Monday that is good news for tiger admirers like US Person. Mr. Modi said India's tiger population rose from 2226 to 2967 in 2018. India is home to about 70% of Earth's remaining tigers. [chart] The copuntry conducts a census of its tigers every four years, an arduous task that involves looking over 193,000 square miles of remaining habitat.  He said the latest figure is something about which every Indian should be happy and represents a major conservation success.

Between 1875 and 1925 about 80,000 tigers met their death at the hands of man. By 1960 tigers were close to the edge of extinction in the wild. A ban on hunting and establishment of a system of reserves has aided the big cats recovery. Even "problem" cats enjoy a degree of protection from the government under a strict conservation law enacted in 1972.  By 2006, tiger populations began to grow.  Now, overcrowding and loss of habitat are the major threats to tigers in the wild.  Human-tiger conflict is also growing.  Tigers breed only in a small part of the available habitat. Overcrowded tigers sometimes venture into human territory in search of food and mates. 

According to one prominent tiger conservationist, Ullas Karanth, if all of India's available tiger habitat in state owed forest reserves were brought under protection, and prey species allowed to flourish, India could support about 10-15 thousand tigers.  That is a density of only 5 tigers per 100 sq.km; some parks already have densities of 10-15 tigers.  India does have bush meat consumption in rural areas that is depressing prey species such as deer, pig and antelope but according to Karanth it is not as intense as what is occurring in southeast Asia.  

a tiger cub checks out a camera trap

Human development pressure is also rising.  The Modi administration has an agenda for rapid economic growth and is driving highway right of ways through tiger reserves, say Karanth, instead of adopting mitigating measures.  Tiger reserves currently occupy only 4-5% of the land area.  Karanth says,"the aim [of wildlife conservation] is to protect nature in as intact a manner as possible, not create a Disneyland with artificial manipulation of habitat."  In Karanth's lifetime India's human population has quadrupled and the daily wage increased from 3 to 300 rupees.  India is a living example that you can have both tigers and prosperity. 

Reduced Rhino Poaching in South Africa

Some good news on the rhino poaching front.  South Africa, home to the largest rhino population reported a decline in poaching kills for the fifth strait year.  Sill, a tragic 594 rhinos were poached in 2019 for their horns.  The declines are attributed to a number of factors by the government including faster reaction times, improved intelligence and more cooperation between regional and national authorities.  2015 was the worst year on record with 1300 animals killed, 1175 in South Africa.  Kruger National Park lost 327 rhinos to poaching in 2019; 178 alleged poachers were arrested within its boundaries.

South Africa is taking further steps to eliminate rhino poaching.  A national integrated strategy is on the country's Cabinet agenda for the first half of 2020. In a press release the government noted that wildlife trafficking is a highly sophisticated form of transnational crime which threatens national security.  A strategic framework to follow is needed to attack the problem with sufficient resources and public support.  Minister of Environment, Barbara Creecy, credited the dedication and efforts of the nation's rangers who put their lives at risk to combat poaching. [Kruger white rhinos, credit B. Gagnon]

The international black market demand for horn, composed of medicinally useless keratin, drives the poaching epidemic.  The price of horn has dropped by two-thirds from $65,000 to $22,000 per kilogram, which has a beneficial impact on demand. But part of the decline may be due to the fact that the most accessible animals are gone and their are fewer rhinos to poach.  There is still a need for continued prosecution of high level smugglers and longer incarcerations for poaching and related crimes.

'Beautiful Wall'--No Problema, $5 Ladders

credit: Getty Images

This story was so predictable, it is not even funny any more: smugglers are using $5 ladders made of re-bar to scale Donald Douche's 'beautiful wall', which is costing million in diverted Pentagon funds.  El Paso's urban stretch of the wall is littered with rust colored re-bar ladders left by smugglers and illegal immigrants. The wall [photo] is such a monstrosity it was bound to propagate methods of evasion. The ladders began appearing after the wall was reconstructed and finished in May.  Illegal crossings have increased ever since, according to the Border Patrol.  From October 2019 to January 2020 10,030 adults were apprehended, compared with 5,150 in the same period a year ago. Single adults are the most likely to make the climb to the presumed land of opportunity.

This low-tech solution is made by hand out of two 3/8th inch re-bars and four thinner bars fitted with steps and a bent hook for attaching to the top of the wall.  The ladders are difficult to spot against the rusting wall. Six meters of re-bar costs about $5.30 in a local Ciudad Juarez hardware store.  About $10 billion of taxpayer money has been spent improving sections of the wall 100 miles in length. 'King' Donald, the Antichrist who took a victory lap this weekend at the Hillbilly (Daytona) 500, deceitfully claimed Mexico would pay for the cost of building a wall border to border, about 2,000 miles.

COTW: Red Flags

This chart is from the St. Louis Fed via Wolfstreet.com:

Not good news for job seekers in this miraculous economy for plutocrats.  In two months there has been almost a million fewer job openings (938,000).  On a non-adjusted basis, job loss is the steepest since the Great Recession. December was the seventh month in a row of year over year declines. Here is another indication of current economic trends:

Delinquencies among sub prime auto loans (below 620 credit score) are soaring.  Serious delinquencies, more than 90 days, rose 15.5% from a year ago.  Remember, these are the good times!  This situation is not caused by job losses, but the avarice of the subprime lenders who make a bundle on higher, even usurious, interest rates.  Think of it as junk bonds for the masses.  These loans get packaged into asset backed securities (ABS) which investors love because of high rates of return.  The same securitization of high risk loans occurred in the mortgage industry a decade ago end in the Great Recession of 2008,  The delinquency rate for ABS is now higher than it was during the crisis.  Not big enough to take down the global banking system, but still indicative of what one pundit calls the "hollowed out economy".